"The appearance of this facsimile reprint is the culmination of an initial suggestion from Helen G. McClelland, Director of Nursing of the Philadelphia Hospital, plus the present scarcity of the first edition, which appeared in London over the harrison imprint in 1859. The first available American edition followed in 1860 ove the imprint of D. Appleton and Company. This facsimile has been reproduced from the copy in the Rare Book Room of the Library of Congress."--"The story of this reprint", p. [1] Facsimile reprint of the 1st ed., published in 1859 by Harrison, London "The following notes are by no means intended as a rule of thought by which nurses can teach themselves to nurse, still less as a manual to teach nurses to nurse. They are meant simply to give hints for thought to women who have personal charge of the health of others. ... Every day sanitary knowledge, or the knowledge of nursing, or in other words, of how to put the constitution in such a state as that it will have no disease, or that it can recover from disease, takes a higher place. It is recognized as the knowledge one ought to have--distinct from medical knowledge, which only a profession can have."--Preface Ventilation and warming -- Health of houses -- Petty management -- Noise -- Variety -- Taking food -- What food? -- Bed and bedding -- Light -- Cleanliness of rooms and walls -- Personal cleanliness -- Chattering hopes and advices -- Observation of the sick -- Conclusion -- Appendix Elmer Belt Florence Nightingale collection Publisher's light brown cloth over boards, stamped in blind and gold